Save the libraries

Save the libraries

Wordcount: zilch, nada, zero

I’m too tired today and my brain was barely working today when I sat down at the computer. After 30 minutes of realizing it just wasn’t going to happen, I quit. But I do have some good news: Driving later, I put the story in my head and a fun idea for my current scene popped into my head quickly. So, whoopee! I’m all ready for tomorrow morning’s writing session.

But enough of that. Today I’m writing about libraries, the places I hope will one day carry all the words I wake up early to write every morning. There’s a tragedy taking place, in case you haven’t heard: All the libraries in Philadelphia — let me repeat that: ALL — will close after the end of business Oct. 2 because they no longer have the necessary budgetary legislation to keep them open.

Libraries are the places that so many readers became book lovers. I know I did. When I was a kid, my local library was my favorite place to go. I loved that I could go in there, give them a card and take home a bunch of books, new, old, beautiful books. I didn’t even mind much that I had to return them, because I could always get more, and I could always take out the same ones again if I wanted. It was like Christmas every day. I loved it.

Today, I mostly buy my books, but I do still love to visit the library. There’s something wonderful about seeing all those shelves just stuffed with books, old, new, tattered, loved.

Editorial Ass reminds us that libraries also are essential for the publishing industry. Publishing houses rely on library buys to help make first print runs. And if publishing houses can’t make their first print runs, they won’t be publishing as many books, which will lower the opportunities for those of us who are already book lovers and those who have yet to discover their wonder.

If libraries close, children, especially those in inner-city areas, will have less access to books, and that’s not a good thing. A book can inspire a child, comfort a child, teach a child, and help a child find ways to deal with the problems he or she deals with every day. Books are important, and so are libraries.

So, do whatever you have to, talk to whomever it may concern, but save our libraries, those in Philadelphia that are destined to close and any others that could be in the same dilemma.